Lundy Bancroft and Janet Johnston

At a recent training, Lundy Bancroft mentioned Janet Johnston which has caused a bit of a stir with a few members of our community.  Bancroft did not go into detail at the training but referenced his book The Batterer as Parent where he spends an entire chapter discussing Janet Johnston's research.  As I couldn't find our copy of the book, I found online a blog post by Bancroft that addresses this very thing.  About half way through the post in the section titled, "The Connection Between Battering and Child Abuse" Bancroft discusses the typologies identified by Johnston and the issues he sees with using these typologies to assess risk in child custody and placement cases.  The AFCC (Association of Family and Conciliation Courts) used Johnston's research on these typologies in developing their risk assessment.

Lundy Bancroft

Our organization had the pleasure of hosting a training led by Lundy Bancroft last month who has extensive experience in batterer's treatment and domestic violence and has published several excellent books.  We refer many of our clients to his book entitled Why Does He Do That?.  The Batterer as Parent is a great resource for professionals working with victims of domestic violence and their families.  Below are some key messages I took from the training led by Lundy Bancroft.

Overlap of abuse towards mother and child abuse

• 49% of batterers also physically abuse the children
• Batterers are 7 times more likely to physically abuse the children than a non-batterer
• Batterers are 6 times more likely to sexually abuse children than a non-batterer

 How the batterer appears in court or when meeting with professionals

• Will deny/minimize allegations of domestic violence
• Make allegations that the mother has mental health problems, abuses alcohol or drugs, or is an unfit parent
• Will commonly appear as the friendly parent
• Skillfully dishonest and manipulative which professionals may not recognize
• Will usually outperform victim in psychological tests – there is no psych test that will show someone is a batterer
• Will not seem capable of the kind of cruelty or abuse being accused of
• Very good under observation
• Will appear very calm when meeting with professionals like an officer immediately following an incident – batterers are very controlled in their behaviors even though at times they may appear out of control – an example – when he destroys things, he avoids destroying his own belongings

How the victim appears in court or when meeting with professionals

• May not appear to be a good parent as the batterer typical undermines and interferes with her parenting
• Often do not perform well on psychological tests which are usually only about 70% accurate in evaluating mental health and usually do not relate the results to the individual’s ability to parent
• Typically not good witnesses

 Impact of battering on children

• Batterer often causes divisions in the family affecting children’s relationships with their siblings and with their mother
• They learn by example the values and behaviors that lead to perpetration or victimization
• Separation increases the chances of children witnessing violence as it often occurs during exchanges
• Children are often used as weapons or tools to continue the abuse

 Other comments by Lundy Bancroft

• Domestic violence is not a relationship problem, it is a battering problem.
• Our legal system sends victims mixed messages – if they stay with an abusive partner they are failing to protect the children; if they leave, the abusive partner is granted extensive unsupervised placement with the children leaving the victim unable to protect her children
• Children heal through repairing their connection to the non-abusive parent and their siblings.  They also heal through increased safety and establishing loving, appropriate relationships with adults.
• The risk of a boy becoming a perpetrator is directly related to whether the boy grew up believing the violence was the non-abusive parent’s fault or whether the abusive parent had to take responsibility.
• Victims tend to give up financial orders (maintenance, child support, property division, etc.) in order to get custody and placement.  This often backfires as most financial orders cannot be modified at a later date but custody and placement can be modified.  With the lack of favorable financial orders, the victim doesn’t have the financial resources to fight it when the batterer keeps bringing them back to court to modify custody and placement.

Actions of Ordinary People Offer Hope

Click on the following article titled:  Tim Gruenke:  Actions of Ordinary People Offer Hope from the LaCrosse Tribune.  This article is a great reminder of why we do what we do.

No contact orders

I recently learned that no contact orders that are a condition of bond are not in effect when a defendant is in custody so I spent some time focusing on increasing my understanding of various no contact orders and what they can do to protect a victim.  Please note that I work in WI and so all of these no contact orders are specific to WI.  Other states will have varying laws which may or may not be the same as WI's laws.

No contact orders at the time of arrest
72 hour no contact order:  This is an order entered at the time of arrest of a perpetrator of domestic violence.  The victim has the right to waive or enforce this no contact order.  This order stays in effect for the 72 hours regardless of whether criminal charges are filed unless the victim waives it in writing.  2011 WI Act 267 recently changed the laws regarding violations of this no contact order to a criminal charge (from a citation).

No contact orders during a pending criminal case
No contact order as a condition of bond (WI statutes Chapter 969):  This is a criminal no contact order that a judge can order (usually at the request of the DA).  Bond must be posted (and the defendant no longer in custody) for this order to be in effect.  This order can prohibit contact with a victim and the victim's residence at the discretion of the judge and can last up to the length of the case.  A violation results in bail jumping.

No contact order per WI Statutes 940.47:  This is a criminal no contact order entered by the judge (usually at the request of the DA) which can prohibit intimidation of victims or witnesses, in person contact with victims or witnesses, and/or communication with victims or witnesses.  A violation can result in intimidation of victims charges.  This criminal no contact order if entered is in effect regardless of whether bond has been posted.


Condition of a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA):  If a defendant agrees to accept a DPA, a no contact order can be a part of that agreement.  If the defendant follows the conditions of this agreement, his case is dismissed after a set amount of time.  If he violates the conditions (including violating the no contact provision) of his DPA, he can be immediately found guilty and sentenced in that case.

No contact orders upon sentencing
No contact order as condition of probation:  If a defendant is sentenced to probation, a no contact order can be entered as part of the conditions of his probation.  My understanding is that this no contact order can be entered by the judge at the time of sentencing or by the probation officer.  If he violates, he can be arrested and his probation can be revoked.  Additionally it is my understanding that new laws allow the DA's office to enter criminal charges upon violation of this order as well.

Civil no contact orders
Civil temporary restraining orders and injunctions (WI Statutes Chapter 813):  This no contact order is separate from any criminal case and requires the victim to file a petition requesting a temporary restraining order that can last up to two weeks and then appear at a hearing to petition the court for an injunction that can last up to four years (depending on the type of petition filed).  The petitioner can specify exceptions to this no contact order to allow certain types of contact (which is often important in cases where the parties have minor children and need to be able to communicate in some safe way).  This type of no contact order is available to victims regardless of police contact or criminal charges.  A violation of this type of no contact order can result in immediate arrest and criminal charges.

It is important to remember that no contact orders can be an important part of a safety plan but cannot be the entire safety plan.  As we saw in the recent shooting in Brookfield, the perpetrator didn't care that there was an injunction in place.  That is not to say that all perpetrators will ignore no contact orders.  They work for many victims/survivors so it is important to listen to the victim/survivor carefully for what s/he thinks will keep him/her safe.  S/he is the one who knows the perpetrator the best.

Additionally, it may make sense for an individual to seek various no contact orders at once since they all provide slightly different protection.  Many of my clients chose to file for a civil restraining order even while there is a criminal no contact order as a condition of bond in place because criminal no contact orders are not long term orders and can disappear with little warning if the defendant pleads guilty.  So for those working victims/survivors it is important to understand the pros and cons of each type of no contact order so that victim/survivor can make an informed choice about what is going to keep him/her safe.

Please note that I am not an attorney and this post does not contain legal advice.  In this post, I am explaining my understanding of the no contact orders available to individuals in WI.  If any of the information above is not accurate, please comment on this post as my goal is to provide the most accurate information possible.

Domestic violence in popular culture

Years ago, I got into an online discussion about the song "Goodbye Earl" sung by the Dixie Chicks.  At the time I felt strongly against the song because of the violence it advocated.  I got a lot of negative feedback from people who told me I didn't understand what it was like to be a victim of domestic abuse.  I responded that I'm not judging what an individual victim may do to protect herself but instead am judging a message being put out by a famous country song that can be interpreted many very bad ways.

Now after three years working directly with victims of domestic and sexual violence, I don't pretend to know what they go through but it has given me a better understanding.  And with that better understanding my thoughts have not changed regarding that song.  I will not judge what an individual victim decides is best for him/her.  But I will not ever feel it is appropriate for popular culture to advocate violence.

There are other songs that follow this trend which I strongly do not agree with such as Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats."

Another song I would like to mention is Eminem (with Rihanna)' "Love the Way you Lie."  This song is not as clear cut to me because I feel it does bring up the conflicted emotions of a victim and the cycle they are stuck in both things that can bring awareness.  On the other hand it really romanticizes the violence and avoids accountability.  I feel like it sends the message that there are excuses for the violence and in my opinion there is no valid excuse for violence towards another individual.